A kidney transplant patient stranded in a blizzard was saved after a passing motorist towed her ambulance to hospital - and then went back to collect her new organs.

Good Samaritan Vaughan Crequer was rescuing a car with his Nissan 4x4 when he saw the ambulance's blue flashing lights ahead of him. People were desperately pushing the vehicle as it tried to pass stranded cars on the M23 at Maidenbower, Crawley, West Sussex.

Mr Crequer dropped off the Jaguar he was rescuing before returning to help.

He drove ahead to make sure the surrounding roads were navigable before towing the ambulance to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

Doctors there told him the life-saving operation might not go ahead as the ambulance carrying the patient's new organs was lost and stuck in snow.

But Mr Crequer delivered them after spotting the vehicle on his way home to Pound Hill. Mr Crequer, who runs a car repair firm at County Oak, said: "I got home at 5am and I was up at 6.30am to start work."

A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesman said: "This help was of great use to us and the patient."